The first championship won by an English professional snooker player Joe Davis who continued to win the next 14 championships and remain undefeated until his last match in 1946.
The World Snooker Championship is one of the most prestigious snooker competitions both in popularity as well as prize money. The first championship was held in 1927 which was called the Professional Snooker Championship. Since 1977, the championship is held at "The Crucible" theatre which is located in Sheffield, England. The World Snooker Association conducts the championship. The current champion of the competition is Mark Williams.
Competition Format
At present, the competition follows the knock-out format.
According to the latest format, total 32 players compete in the championship amongst which 16 go to the final directly and the left ones go for the qualificationrounds.
The reigning champion gets the direct entry in the final with a number one seed whereas, the other 15players are selected according to their world ranking.
The first round is played in twosessions with a total of 19 frames.
The second round and the quarter-finals are of25frames that are played in 3 sessions whereas, the semi-finals and the final match being played over four sessions.
The semi-finals consist of 33frames whereas the final is of 35 frames.
The championship is contested over 17 days and ended on the first Monday of May.